Star Wars: Rebirth

The Legacy Era's aftermath led to an era of rebirth for the Empire, and the Empire's enemies.

Hartel relayed the fact that Taral had exerted much of his power to cleanse Darth Băutor’s corruption from Verin and Thirra Taro, who are both now fast asleep, along with Taral. Orwell remarked about how he is going to discipline Verin when he comes to, but then Captain Ikmon came back on board. With the party ready to meet with Hemeri’s mother Slith, the party took off, making Zendral drive The Nest, despite objections from Polis about the other times Zendral crashed his space ship, Zendral still flew it to Dac, where they would go to Hikahi City to find not only Slith, but Infinite Depths HQ. Orwell wasn’t thrilled about being on an ocean world, but he stuck to it anyways.

Zendral’s flying was fairly smooth despite not being used to flying transport ships. Ikmon got The Nest into Dac without molestation, and made sure to relay orders from Admiral Yosk to allow them free access inside.

Once in Hikahi City’s hangar, and while Ikmon spoke to the Hangar Master, the party received a message from an encrypted source stating: “Turns out you made it here after all. I wasn’t sure. Please speak to me at the Golden Reef Cantina. I’ll know when you have arrived.”

When Ikmon returned, he gave each of the party a badge, representing the Mon Calamari navy with some additional flair on it to show that they don’t have to turn in any weapons they had to police forces, and they can use the taxi service from Hikahi City for free.

Taking taxis, the party eventually made it to the edge of Hikahi City, overlooking the vast calm ocean. Ikmon spoke of homecomings being hard, to which Ikmon was told by Kale’zen’dreuoll that neither Hartel nor Issilum- or Hemeri had a good one.

When Ikmon spoke about the legend of there being larger pods of Whaledons swimming by before the Sith committed Genocide on Dac was Polis interested in what he had to say. Ikmon related how 500 Years ago, the Sith had engineered a plague that could wipe out all life on Dac. The Sith had enslaved the Mon Calamari with help from the Quarren, due to the Sith having learned about keeping them in check since their invaluable aid in the Battle of Yavin. When the Mon Calamari got unruly did they release the plague. 80% of all life that was on Dac perished. Only 20% escaped. Polis related his own people to it, believing that for the longest time he was the last of the Gen’Dai left. Polis wants to believe in revival, but Zendral spoke up about how Sith secret labs are no solution.

Ikmon led the party down in the lower depths of the city to Slith’s apartment. Thanks to Ikmon, Slith invited the party inside of her home where she was preparing a meal. When Slith asked if the party wanted water or tea, half wanted tea, and the other half wanted water. The tea isn’t conventional, and is made from a bright red kelp that tasted sweet and fishy, but provided a calming effect to the mind.

It took a bit for Slith to talk, but she admitted that she beckoned Hemeri to run from justice. Ikmon was grateful he wasn’t recording when she said that. The party then convinced her to give up the details that would entail her and Hemeri’s life being threatened.

She spoke about how Oskel was an amazing man before marriage, always making sure to give Hemeri a new toy or other gift when he went to visit her. But after marriage, Oskel turned abusive. She was made to apply extra makeup to hide the scars when Oskel wanted her for media appearances.

She claimed that she stuck through with Oskel, because she wanted Hemeri to have a future as a pilot. Slith had no money, but Oskel had it. Orwell asked if he was abusive due to an outside force. Slith didn’t think so, but he did have many connections, especially political ones. He got worse when he got into politics, as he had many many more to impress.

Slith then refrained from going further, scared that it will get to endangering Hemeri or her. With some encouragement, she spoke of the night when Hemeri snuck out back when she and him lived at Oskel’s mansion. Hemeri was discovered by the party goers. Oskel was mad, as were the party goers who wanted to make an example of him. Slith got in the way, and demanded she pay for it. Oskel approved of it. Slith remembered three men who took turns abusing her. The men were only referred to by their nicknames, “Squirm”, “Jolly”, and “Slug”. She saw another face who laughed and cheered as she was abused who was Yari Kebata, the current Secretary of Dac, and powerful politician. They kept calling Oskel “Sharp”, so she was sure they were nicknames.

At Oskel’s funeral did Slith see “Jolly”, a huge scarred quarren who stayed quiet the whole time, and was never addressed by name. Yari Kebata was there, and gave his funeral talk over the holonet for all to see.

Slith mentioned one of Oskel’s friends who was sympathetic to her plight; a childhood friend of his who was also a lawyer for Infinite Depths named Lohil. Lohil wanted to protect Slith, but he could do very little without putting her and him in more danger. Polis and Orwell regarded him as a coward.

Slith asked if she would be safe. Orwell offered her his bunk, but the others dicussed leaving their own friends to care for her, thinking of Simon specifically, or maybe Senlet.

Upon leaving the apartment, the party considered finding hard evidence of Oskel’s connections. They figured perhaps a Last Will would be a good place to find where his belongings went, or perhaps Infinite Depths HQ would still have records. Visase spoke of having one more card to play…

The crew watched a news report about the arrest of Hemeri/Issilum, and the commentary from both the Mon Calamari Navy, and from Infinite Depths that night. Verin noticed that Orwell was looking more grumpy, but after grunting in response, Verin left the room. Orwell then explained that he picked Thirra up, who felt like death, and “took it from her” to the Jedi. Taral sensed that Orwell had taken some of Thirra’s dark aura upon himself, and perhaps with some luck, Thirra’s own would be weakened.

Korot later stumbled into the room, still weak, but forcing himself to live as if he hadn’t gotten his life force drained only a day ago. He and Zendral argued about trusting Vass’inum’niche, to which Zendral was certain. Though insults were exchanged, nothing further was pushed other than that. Visase and Zendral later argued about whether Sics’enuluo’hassiss was too far gone or not, but he was evasive of Visase’s questions and demands. Visase was sure he would side with the winner, and Zendral hoped she was right.

The following morning, Captain Ikmon paid The Nest a visit wherein he asked where the party wanted to start their investigations. Choosing to interview Hemeri/Issilum first, Captain Ikmon escorted the party down the hallways to where Hemeri was holed up. Hemeri was alone in the prison room, but was treated very well, having been given an extra blanket and more food in his bowl.

When Ikmon began the interview, Kader stepped back from the others, while Hemeri was left explaining what exactly happened between him and Oskel Karbor.

Oskel Karbor was Hemeri’s step father, and they grew to hate each other, because Hemeri could see right through all of the facades Oskel erected, and Oskel knew he was seeing through it all too.

Oskel had married Hemeri’s mother Slith in a bid for showing off how good hearted he was, and he made sure to fund Hemeri’s education in a display of how much he was willing to push his foster son to succeed.

Oskel however proved to be abusive, taking out his anger a lot on Slith; either emotionally or physically abusing her, while keeping Hemeri out of the loop by sending him elsewhere; especially when he got old enough to go to the Pilot’s Academy.

Hemeri spoke highly of his friends in the academy, with Captain Ikmon being one of them.

When asked if he ever snuck out, Hemeri mentioned that he never did except for one time when he found Oskel surrounded by a bunch of men who put off some bad vibes. When Hemeri was discovered did Slith demand to take whatever punishment Oskel was going to give to him. After hearing Slith crying and the men laughing for the rest of the night did Hemeri never sneak out when Oskel commanded him to stay put. Not for Oskel, but so he won’t put his mother through that again.

It was on Hemeri’s graduation day when he came home early to find Oskel cleaning his hand of blood after beating up Slith. That was the straw that broke the Dewback’s back, so Hemeri knocked Oskel to the ground and stabbed him until he died.

At the interview’s conclusion did the party agree to visit Slith for further questioning. Visase was sure that the bad men in Oskel’s house belonged to Luftha Xor that night, but more investigations are needed…

When The Nest arrived at the Rendezvous Point, Issilum got nervous, but kept himself as together as he could. Admiral Shendi Yosk sent a message, requesting identification, and when Kader gave his answer straight up, was Shendi satisfied, and soon was The Nest brought into the hangar of the Ackbar’s Honor; the Flagship of the Mon Calamari Fleet via its Tractor Beam.

It took some time for Issilum to depart from the ship, like he was hesitating. Even Polis asked what was wrong, and that it was unlike him to be like this.

On the way out did the party make their way out to the hangar, to find Verin leaning over the break room table with weariness, while the cries of his sister Thirra Taro are still heard in the bunks. Taral took a moment to make way to where Henea was holding Thirra like a mother would, to attempt to quench the dark aura clinging to Thirra. By fighting past his own Dark Side taint, he forced the dark side from Thirra for a time, allowing Thirra to fall asleep.

With Taral reunited with the party, they made their way onto the hangar, and met with Shendi Yosk, as well as Captain Ikmon, and a platoon of Mon Calamari soldiers. Ikmon and Issilum spoke like old friends to each other, before Shendi put Issilum under arrest, but addressing him as Hemeri. Under arrest on the charge of murdering Oskel Karbor, and running from justice.

Polis stood between him and the soldiers demanding an explanation, while the rest of the party protested worrying about that when the Sith had retaken the galaxy. Zendral asked Hemeri what happened. With a simple explanation that Oskel was his stepfather and he caught him beating his mother, the rest of the party seemed understanding of him. But still, with Hemeri willing to be taken in, Polis stepped aside and allowed the soldiers to apprehend him. Captain Ikmon followed the procession to what are assumed to be the cells, while Shendi Yosk ordered for the rest of the party to follow her after explaining to them that what she wanted to talk about was about Hemeri.

In short, she knows that Oskel Karbor was the former CEO of Infinite Depths, the most affluent corporation on Dac, and suspected to have played a huge role in the rigging on the Dac elections causing Dac to go in a brief revolt that ultimately led in their separation from the Galactic Federation when the Sith took over. Oskel Karbor had wanted political power. To get it, he needed PR, and good PR would show when he marries a single mother with a son. Hemeri was that son, and saw first hand what kind of person Oskel really was. Oskel never cared for Hemeri’s mother Slith, and apparently, beatings and assault were common. Oskel did however put on a show for making sure Hemeri saw his dreams come true, putting him into the best possible pilot academy where he always aced the pilot exams. Still, his friends had learned of Oskel’s true nature from Hemeri, and believed him over the image he was selling to the public.

But when Oskel was murdered, Hemeri left the scene, leaving a nasty mess behind. Now is the chance for the mess to be cleaned up, and perhaps getting a closer look at Infinite Depths as well.

When the party made it to the Bridge, Shendi finished her discussion by the time Ikmon arrived on the Bridge too, receiving a message from a ship called the “Blowing My Payload Into Your Hull”. The one answering it was Darth Maccus, who merely asked how Shendi Yosk was doing, and hoped she was recovering from the attack against the Star Forge that she had been advised to back away from. But when he noticed the party, he spoke to them a little, first praising them for their performance in the Senate building, and then asked that he speak to them in their ship away from prying eyes.

With the transmission over, Shendi’s mood improved, and gave the party a place to start with investigating Infinite Depths, giving them the location of Slith; Hemeri’s mother on Dac, and permission to interview Hemeri, as well as the location of Infinite Depth’s HQ on Dac.

Upon request, Shendi also gave away the location of a good machine shop on Dac as well for Zendral.

Back on board the ship, they found Verin at the communicator in the Cockpit, watching as the ship with the seemingly joke name keeps ringing to learn that it wasn’t a joke. Maccus requested Verin leave, but the rest of the party told him he could stay. Even after some choice insults, Maccus just laughed and asked that the party work to make his job a little bit more difficult, and that 500 years of planning has made his task far too easy, and he didn’t like it.

Maccus also addressed the fact that Hemeri wasn’t present, and reasoned that Hemeri was snatched up by the law. He dropped the name Luftha Xor, who was Quarren Crime Lord on Dac somewhere, and could yield some results of aid to the party.

He then announced that nature was calling him about the Pie Hut pies he ate, and then departed.

The party then discussed what they will do about Thirra Taro, and how they will approach the investigation as well…

At the elevators on the 11th floor of the Jedi Temple, Jedi Master Evarr Dreskel told the party that the others have searched every hidden part of the Jedi Temple and found everybody they could, including several Jedi Youngbloods. Jedi Master Choon Zadooz had requested that he and Mevas depart with the Youngbloods, their caretakers, and several Yuuzhan Vong Guardians that he take care of them. The party agreed to do so. Yuuzhan Vong Guardian Captain Shu’val had volunteered to assist the party against Darth Orm however.

Harbu Nord received the orders to help Chas Plegu and his police squad in buying the party time and volunteered to carry them out. While the party was on the elevator itself however, Harbu messaged the party stating that he got a message from Chas Plegu, being of his final moments of agony; and that Harbu and his squad got caught in a large scrap with security forces in order to cover Jedi Grandmaster Dalbar’s, Korot’s, Verin’s, and Thirra’s escape. As far as Harbu knows, the four of them are safe in the Nest, and that Chas Plegu and his police are dead. Darth Unus, Supreme Commander Thaz Welk, and Emperor Sarvak Fel have made it inside of the Galactic Senate building itself.

The party made their way up the elevator with Evarr Dreskel and Reiss Vingen in tow with haste towards the highest level of the Jedi Temple. At the top, the party was greeted by the sight of the last of the Guards, Sith Apprentices, and Imperial Knights dead at the feet of the rest of the group. The only thing that remained between the party and Darth Orm, was the suspended hallway to the Triumvirate Tower.

Within the Tower itself, the party found Darth Orm (Jedi Master Keiran) standing by himself while looking out one of the tower’s large windows out at the burning cityscape against the backdrop of a dark pre-morning sky. Zendral immediately pointed both of his blaster pistols at Orm, but Orm made no such moves. Even when Visase spoke to Orm of the fact that it was Darth Maccus that put the party up to challenging Orm, as well as Vlodigurtal’s Cumquat’s contributions to their education of Orm’s charade, but Orm dismissed both of Visase’s taunts with the first being as something Maccus would do to keep him on his toes, and the last one as having made no difference in Orm’s workings within the Jedi Temple in the end.

When the party confronted Orm with the crimes he committed against the Federation, Orm responded calmly with the fact that the only reason the city fell to violence was due to the fact that Arken Taro and the party made it so, and that it otherwise would have been a peaceful and quiet take-over. Nonetheless, Orm asserted that he fulfilled his purpose successfully, and now it is merely a matter of waiting for his master Darth Unus to arrive. Each point brought up by the party to Orm against his actions and intent was twisted back at the party. When it was clear that the word exchange wasn’t making any waves; Zendral fired his blaster pistols at Orm, with the rest of the party following suit in quick succession. Where the blaster shots hit on Orm’s form however ended up causing his form to ripple like water on a pond.

As Orm’s illusionary form gave way, Orm struck at Zendral out from nowhere while chanting the Jedi Code. As the party intervened, Orm appeared to strike at the offending party members as suddenly as he did to Zendral. When Orm finished chanting the Jedi Code, illusionary copies of Orm were seen all over the Triumvirate Tower with their lightsabers drawn, and their arms cackling with force lightning.

The three Jedi Masters immediately entered meditation, empowering the party and their allies in the room to be able to sense the changes in the force for where the real Orm is, and also to always strike true at Orm.

By cutting down the illusions, the force reacted by flickering into existence anomalies in the room that reflected Darth Orm’s signatures. Visase shot the first such anomaly with her own pistol, and the shot ripped straight through Orm’s chest, causing all of the other existing illusions to take on the same wound.

The illusions got more and more overwhelming, until Orm began to quickly strike at the party and their allies in multiple goes. Then when the anomalies appeared after cutting down more of Orm’s illusions, they started appearing in multitudes. Visase found herself sensing the force for clarity before striking the correct anomaly with her lightsaber.

Finally, Visase jabbed Orm in the back, and then cut upwards to his chest; causing all of the other illusory copies of Orm to disappear. A mortally wounded Orm began to laugh, claiming that Darth Unus has already arrived, and will finish the party’s existence where he himself could not.

Out of the corner of the party’s eyes, they noticed what looked like Gunja’s bus speeding straight into the Triumvirate Tower towards the door Orm was pointing out that had Darth Unus behind it. The moment Unus opened the door was the moment Gunja’s bus broke through the Triumvirate Tower’s window, and then crashed into Unus, along with Unus’ escorts; Thaz Welk and Sarvak Fel. Unus, Thaz, and Sarvak were slammed into the far wall by the Galactic Senate Elevator in a debris-full and fiery entrance.

When the party’s hearing returned, they noticed Gunja himself swaying on a broken metal rafter by his parachute strings like a swing. Gunja told the party about how he was sidetracked on his way to help them, while exchanging pleasantries. The exchange between Gunja and the party was kept at a minimum; even when Zendral asked if this was the first time Gunja totalled his bus. Gunja, noticing the mortally wounded Orm crawl away asked if Keiran was the bad guy all along, and then asked if the party was going to kill him. Visase, annoyed that Orm survived her first attempt at executing him painfully decapitated him.

Orm’s body turned from flesh into a fine crystalline sand that Hartel mentioned looks almost identical to the sand used to make copies of the athletes in the Hoopin’ Slam game. Gunja, while ranting about how anti-climactic the Sith pass away was interrupted abruptly when he was suddenly slammed by his own totaled bus. All that remained of Gunja was a large bloodspray mark, and the sight of the bus careening into the depths of Coruscant.

Turned back to where the bus was, was the seething dark-cloaked Darth Unus; standing beside the mashed bodies of Supreme Commander Thaz Welk and Emperor Sarvak Fel. Darth Unus made steady strides over the burning debris towards the Triumvirate Tower. Jedi Masters Rooth Ank, Yana Lish, and Evarr Dreskel ignited their lightsabers and formed a line to block Unus’ path. The rest of the party and the group followed.

As Unus walked closer, his physical features became clearer from under the hood of his black cloak. He was of a reptilian appearance with an oval head with an eye stalk protruding out each side of the oval. His eyes at the end of their stalks glow with a violent crimson light through the shadows of his hood. His mouth is lined with rows of razor sharp teeth

When Unus entered the room, he looked upon the resistance force that had gathered, and merely told them to step aside, and that they don’t need to die here. Zendral made a snarky remark that he would rather have a different Sith Lord, but Unus made no sign of caring about that remark while he only stopped for a brief moment at Visase before continuing his inspections. Unus asked Visase about what she saw in her vision of him, while Taral made a comment to Unus about how he and Orm seem to have manners more akin to a Jedi.

Unus demanded that Taral not compare him to “That animal”. Unus spoke of the Sith like they are a bunch of hungry massiffs that crave power for its own sake. When asked about where Unus stood in that, Unus simply said that he was the houndmaster; and that unlike the Sith animals, Unus has a purpose and a reason for desiring the reins of the Galactic Federation.

Unus spoke of his own visions for the Galaxy. He spoke of how he saw a galaxy full of sentients that lacked what they needed to be at peace. That is, a purpose to strive for to not only complete themselves; but a large purpose for every other sentient as well to struggle through together. Unus briefly mentioned the lack of sentients who can feel the warmth of the force during his speech.

It was at that point that the Jensaraai “Rancor” ignored the desire of Tafin not wanting him to attack. “Rancor” ignited his lightsaber and flew into a ravenous frenzy and charged recklessly at Unus. Unus quickly pulled out his long-handled lightsaber, ignited the blade, and in a motion that nobody could catch; cut “Rancor” in half. Visase sensed the power within the lightsaber as being of a signature not unlike the core of the space factory flying over Coruscant, with the Force Sensitives it devoured to make it. Though, the power in the lightsaber is far more faint, and far more ancient.

After that display of power, another question was posed to Unus about how sure he was about not repeating the past. Unus declared that he was determined not to repeat the past, and that he even carries the past with him to remind himself, and that the only way he can try is if he has control of the Galactic Federation. Unus stated that to get better at ruling, he must rule. Unus gave one more warning to the resistance to step aside and fight another day, or else Unus will have to kill them.

Zendral told Visase that he has her back. Visase called for the Nest to come and pick her and the party up.

The resistance had decided to fight another day. Yana Lish almost threw herself at Unus, but some urging from Rooth Ank got her to break away out of the wisdom of the action. Evarr Dreskel, Rooth Ank, Yana Lish, and Hassan decided they were going to accompany Dalbar into exile; because it is only a matter of time before the Jedi are to be hunted down like massiffs like in times past. Evarr Dreskel encouraged Taral and Visase to continue with the rest of the party and to fight the war their own way; and spearhead the resistance on their front.

Tafin and the remaining Jensaarai declared that when they strike at Unus to invite them in order to avenge her “Rancor”.

Corporal Reiss Vingen and his squad had to attend other mercenary work on their end, but stated that he hopes to see the party again.

The Droideka accompanied the party, as well as the last remaining member of the Coruscant Street Tribe; Eroll Skav. As the party moved to the Nest that had positioned itself into hovering over the hole that Gunja’s Bus made into the Tower, Darth Unus stood over the Triumvirate’s Meeting Table, and declared his last warning to not meddle in his affairs again. The next time the party does, Unus will not let them go.

Back in the Nest, the party viewed an injured Korot and Vass’inum’niche in the process of recovery, while Verin is seen holding his sobbing sister. Yun Brodal asked many questions about the affair, and of Eroll Skav’s place on the ship, but his questions were put aside in favor of getting Issilum flying the Nest off of Coruscant.

The sky turned to dawn as Issilum flew the ship up into space. This dawn however yielded a view of Coruscant’s sun with the space factory twisting tendrils of star plasma while surrounded in a nebulous halo of Calamari Cruiser wreckage from the fight that Shendi Yosk tried to win against the unstoppable factory.

Yun Brodal spoke of how Shendi Yosk desired to meet the party in an empty section near Mon Calamari space in order to continue fighting. The resistance that came with the broadcast is bending the Federation Worlds to their knee, but this new change of leadership might compromise that.

Visase voiced that she desired to also see the Luka Sene; the legendary order of Miraluka Seers in order to learn how to bypass Unus’ strength in resisting force sight.

Verin put Thirra to bed and walked out to voice his regrets about what he wished he could have told his dad, and between that and the party’s own assurances, Verin said that he is committed to the cause, and desires to better himself towards it.

Then Issilum activated the hyperdrive engines, and launched himself towards Shendi Yosk’s location.

With a brief rest period, what remains of the group recovered enough to keep pushing their way towards the Jedi Temple.

Inside the Jedi Temple’s vast halls, the group was confronted by a large number of Sith Apprentices with Sith Swords being led by a Sith with a bright red lightsaber named Darth Udar who introduced himself to the party, while insisting on not needing to know the names of the group due to his not needing to be acquainted with the dead. Dalbar promptly dispatched Udar in a matter of seconds while the rest of the Sith Apprentices scrambled to intercept the group. Dalbar, the party, Korot, and Verin all managed to wriggle free from the Sith attack while Dalbar used the force to speed those running with him to the elevators.

The elevator was brought up to the 11th floor of the Jedi Temple, where much of the Jedi train and hone their abilities with the force. Verin ran ahead after swearing that he heard a faint cry, with Korot running closely after him.

While the party ran, Dalbar linked the minds of the party with a vision of what is happening within Rea and Thirra’s location. Rea, and the bodies of four other Jedi Knights are seen with their blood drained out. Thirra Taro is screaming and crying behind a force shield while a Sith Lord is draining the shield. The Sith Lord is heard trying to entice Thirra Taro to invoking the Dark Side to strike back at him for all that he did.

Taral recognized the Sith Lord as an Anzati, a species that is known for their ability to track down and become empowered by the blood of force sensitives, which the Anzat call Blood Soup. The Anzat do their drinking through two proboscis mouths; one on each cheek. The Anzat also have a means to mesmerize their quarry.

Verin was first to break into the room and start firing only for him to be mesmerized. Korot pushed him out of the way, and soon, the party entered to confront the Sith Lord behind all of this; Darth Băutor. Dalbar tried to delete Băutor’s ability to use the Force, but that power got drained into his proboscis mouths.

Băutor proved to be a tricky foe to the party, in particular, Băutor continuously drained Thirra Taro’s shield at an alarming rate; the same shield Rea erected around her daughter before she died, and then used that shield to protect himself. It also became apparent that Băutor is continuously draining the force into his proboscis mouths and the only one with a connection to him was Thirra who is not in control of herself.

Much of the party and Korot moved in to keep Băutor distracted while Dalbar and Verin moved in to try and calm Thirra down. Băutor took Korot down by sticking his proboscis mouths into Korot’s facial openings and then drinking his blood. Băutor did the same thing with Visase, only also nullifying her ability to use the force until she caught her breath.

With some encouragement and assurances from the party and Verin, Thirra calmed down enough to listen to Verin on what to do. Dalbar situated Hartel, Visase, and Taral with the use of clearing Thirra’s mind and readying a Feibraxian Exorcism on Băutor while the rest of the party kept Băutor busy. In particular, Simon managed to grab Băutor and keep him held down, even after Băutor used the Sith arts to drain Korot from afar for his strength.

Thirra used the force to retake her mother’s shield, leaving Băutor wide open for the exorcism to start following Dalbar’s lead. The exorcism was quick acting, with four gouts of white fire erupting from Băutor while the last one lingered to finish Băutor off by melting his bones and boiling the blood he drained from the others.

The victory was short lived, for outside of the Temple’s window a shuttle landed that matched the description of the earlier reports from the Disciples of Justice. Emperor Sarvak Fel, Supreme Commander Thaz Welk, and Darth Unus had arrived.

Before the party could discuss this, Arken Taro requested a conversation on the communicator. With the conversation answered to, one can hear the ambient sounds of blasterfire and explosions on Arken’s side. Arken requested to know of what became of his wife and daughter for he doesn’t have much time. Arken didn’t dwell on Rea’s death as long, but instead focused on Verin and Thirra. With Verin’s urging, Thirra was able to talk to Arken for a small time. Arken voiced that Arbet is dead, and Korech and Voroth are buying him time. Arken repeated continuously that he loved Verin and Thirra and was proud of them while telling the both of them to look after each other, and that the party will take care of them. After Arken coaxed a smile out of Thirra, Arken flew out of his seat after one more explosion. After getting up, Arken spoke his last sentences before a blaster shot struck him in the head; killing him.

A few seconds later, Toba Gra walked in range of the communicator. Toba Gra’s head and part of his shoulder have been replaced with cybernetic parts, and Toba Gra’s voice is now a mix between his gruff voice and the voice of a vocabulator; and with it he stared at the party and told them that the broadcast was over. Then Toba Gra turned off the communicator.

Dalbar shook his head, but then volunteered to take the children and Korot back to the Nest, and Dalbar knew of some secret passageways out that he was sure would not be discovered.

Leading Korot, Thirra, and Verin out, Dalbar said that the time to strike at Orm is now; and that he would join the fight as soon as he was able.

With that, the party rushed back to the elevators where they got a status report from Master Evarr Dreskel and Reiss Vingen.

The plan to overtake the Galactic Senate was to bring everybody but Harbu and his team up to the senate proper in order to overwhelm the defenses of the security teams. With most of the rest of the attack force gathered, Dalbar led the way down the Galactic Senate’s halls; rushing past the security droids brought up by NXT-1 against security forces. NXT-0; the security chief and arbiter of the Galactic Senate found its processors were too full to handle the party tearing down the halls, but NXT-0 still sounded the alarms to get the guards to handle the intrusion.

By the time the party made it to the Senate chambers themselves, the security forces of the Galactic Senate arrived as well while being led by both Imperial Knights and Sith Apprentices. Much of the group mobilized to defend, while giving the party and a few others within the group to go inside of the Senate chambers to go and deal with NXT-0. Inside, the party found the Emeriss assassin Vass’inum’niche (Numni) lying in wait on a senator’s platform while surrounded by several other Emeriss Guardians who had accompanied her in the kidnapping of Rea and Thirra Taro.

In particular, Numni and Zendral exchanged words about Emeriss’ business practices, but, perhaps predictably, ended with Numni claiming that what she did and what she will do next is all part of business. Just as the first moves were being made, Numni mentioned that she was still impressed with how quickly Taral moved to catch up with her down by the Greater Haluon hideout.

During the fight, Numni had her platform shot out from under her, but she kept a wide variety of grappling chains in order to keep herself from succumbing to the pull of gravity by grabbing onto the ceiling. Also, NXT-0 assisted by erecting deflector shield columns in between Numni and the party.

Simon bypassed those defenses with specially made Sidewinder missiles. Polis found himself the main target of Numni’s attacks, and Polis even managed to catch up with her on her own platform, only for Polis to find that Numni was a skilled wrestler. It took Dalbar’s intervention to keep Polis from getting beaten unconscious.

Much of the rest of the Jedi who followed the party inside found themselves having to hold off against Sith and Imperial Knight incursions at the flanks, while Dalbar made sure that he could catch any of the party that might fall off of their platforms over the Senate Chamber area.

As NXT-0 erected another column, the power went out for a brief moment, shutting down the shields, and leaving the platforms to go into emergency mode before the power went back online again.

But merely 10 seconds later, the power inside the chambers went out for good, letting the other Emeriss guardians to fall to their deaths, while the others finished off the remaining Imperial Knights and Sith inside. To save the party, Dalbar brought both the party and the wounded Vass’inum’niche to the senate floor by telekinesis. Numni exclaimed that the party finish her as she would have done the same to the party. Much to her surprise, and the curiosity of the Jedi; Zendral, Visase, and Taral both vouched to not kill her as doing so was not the Jedi way.

Instead, they convinced her to see Emeriss for what it is that they do. With Numni being thrown off about her predicament decided to listen to Visase and Zendral’s arguments, and even agreed with the fact that it was likely that Orm brought her in the Galactic Senate to slow the party down and likely die in the attempt at stopping the party. When the party invited her to go to the ship, Verin Taro raised a stink about letting the kidnapper of his family onto the Nest.

It took some convincing, but Verin finally decided to quiet down; still unsure of the party’s decision to let her get patched up and healed by Chuni and Henea.

It was soon apparent of the cause of the power outage that took NXT-0 offline for good; Upik & Kipu tried to manipulate the energy flow into NXT-0’s systems with their devices, but something went wrong; and the power shorted while Upik & Kipu both got struck by the flow of energy; charring the both of them to a crisp and fusing them to the floor they were standing on.

Others that suffered was “Nodaz” and Ketki and the rest of his Kryndr Gowakk, where “Nodaz” was put out of his legless misery by Eroll Skav, while Ketki took himself out by smashing all of the energy balls strapped to his body all at once on an Imperial Knight. The rest of the team suffered significant wounds, but nothing that killed them.

The Jedi Temple is next, and the party must figure out how to get there next. By estimations, the Jedi Temple shouldn’t be nearly as secure as it ought to, but will still hide dangers as the party pushes within to not only rescue Rea and Thirra, but also to confront Darth Orm.

When the party mobilized, the rest of the strike team moved into action, fortifying the Law Enforcement level with their soldiers; while Tress Wecen moved to establish the detonators on the Supreme Court elevators.

The party, as well as Eroll Skav and his gang, the Jedi except for Jedi Knight Hassan, Korot, Verin, Upik & Kipu, and Corporal Reiss’ squad except for Tress Wecen moved to the Coruscant Local Senate. As was expected, the opposition was waiting for the party’s arrival; while the voice of the Coruscant Local Senate’s arbiter/security computer was overheard throughout the facility.

The guards with their guns on autofire, and the Imperial Knights with their Force Slams made quick work of Eroll Skav’s gangsters, while NXT-1 sent his own security droids to try and overrun the party.

The Jedi Masters with the exception of Choon Zadooz and Yana Lish employed their Battle Meditations which gave the party a boost to their capabilities, while Dalbar shifted his meditation to adapt to the circumstances surrounding the party.

Within a heavy wave of fighting, the party fought their way to the doors into the Local Senate proper. Orwell cut through the locked door with his Arg’garok and beheld the NXT-1 droid computer now panicking and calling for the Imperial Knights to abandon their positions and intercept. The party held off the Knights well, even with Hartel being as reckless as he was; while Zendral, Upik, and Kipu managed to rewire NXT-1 to stop seeing them as intruders; but instead as senators. NXT-1 also now saw the Imperial Knights in the room as intruders. By the time NXT-1 was given the order to send the security droids up into the Galactic Senate itself, the surviving Imperial Knights had retreated.

From there, NXT-1 proved to be a wellspring of knowledge about the affairs of Coruscant, with Visase inquiring about Coruscant and the Senate of Coruscant in the past 3 days, and what little it knew about affairs outside of Coruscant.

Surprisingly, the Law Enforcement area is very quiet, and the Governor’s Office area has not retaliated. The party now, in between listening to NXT-1 and dealing with Eroll Skav walking over his fallen; is now considering their assault on the Galactic Senate…

When Hartel, Issilum, Visase, Orwell, and Taral ascended to the Law Enforcement Headquarters level with the newly freed Jedi Masters including Grandmaster Dalbar, they beheld the fight that ensued. The assault team was now beset on all sides by amassed Imperial Knights who were now empowered by the Battle Meditations of Emperor Sarvak Fel’s personal bodyguards; Castor and Pollux.

The tide of the fight turned the moment Dalbar severed Castor’s ability to use the Force, even when Dalbar slipped into unconsciousness.

Thanks to Orwell’s and Hartel’s timely assistance, Dalbar was able to stand back up and sever Pollux’s connection to the force.

The rest of the fight that ensued against the significantly weakened Imperial Knights came to a clear victor, despite the death of the Deno Lane Boys forces and much of the Kryndr Gowakk forces.

Verin fired the final shot that killed Castor, leaving Verin in shock of what he had done, while the rest of the group worked together to defeat Pollux. Pollux’s last words to those on the upper levels was for them to hold their positions, and that the Law Enforcement level is lost.

Thanks to their lack of Force abilities, Castor and Pollux fell quickly to the might of the party and their force, and soon the rest of the reinforcements that were called.

The party, but notably Orwell and Visase came to Verin to check on him, while Dalbar looked from afar. With a reminder that Verin did what he had to, Verin got enough of a grip to keep going.

Then Harbu spoke up to the party, and inquired on their next plan of attack. Harbu volunteered him and his forces and Rixx to stay behind and keep the level secure, while the party figures out who will push forward…

The party continued to push their way through to the Prison Elevator and to give Kipu the room to escape towards Simon. Not seconds later, the Imperial Knights struck down the security droids Kipu tried to activate.

At the elevator, Tafin and Corporal Reiss Vingen both encouraged Visase, Taral, Issilum, Hartel, and Orwell to go and break the prisons open and that the remaining force can hold off the newly arrived Imperial Knights.

Down in the prisons, the five were immediately accosted by two Sith Apprentices wearing a blackened outfit and wielding Sith Swords who spoke out loud of a need to keep Hassan focused on his task. The Sith pushed forward while the few prison guards followed behind to open fire at the intruding party.

Visase and Taral both spoke of how disappointed they were with the Sith and their lack of ability to put up a fight, even after the Sith invoked the force to assist their attacks. In the end, both of the Sith and the guards were overwhelmed by the assault from the party.

Immediately, Issilum broke the lock to the prison door that the Sith apprentices were guarding and then opened the door to see Jedi Knight Hassan holding an ignited lightsaber over the vegetative Lanodar named Jedi Grandmaster Dalbar. When Hassan saw the party, he deactivated his lightsaber and stated that the party’s arrival had given him second thoughts.

Hassan told the story of how he was forced to witness the death and imprisonment of the rest of the Jedi by Sith in disguise. Darth Orm (Keiran) gave Hassan the chance to join with him instead. Hassan went with it half-heartedly, and found himself having to finish off Dalbar before the party could free him. Hassan warned of the power that Orm had with his words and not to underestimate him.

At that point, the party laid their arms down while Orwell worked to check on Dalbar’s condition. Orwell found a neural dampener stuck into Dalbar’s green pointed ear, and then used his expertise to pull it out; waking Dalbar to the world. While Dalbar’s speech was fine, the rest of his body took its time waking up.

While Orwell checked for any long lasting damage on Dalbar, Dalbar spoke to Taral and Visase about the fate of the Jedi Order, and the desperate times that they are in. Dalbar apologized for keeping the matter of the Sith’s return a secret from the rest of the galaxy on the belief that Dalbar felt that the problem was his own to fix as a matter of pride. With Dalbar still in a daze, Orwell carried the Jedi Grandmaster to the armory to retrieve his lightsaber called Ekamu.

While Dalbar was sorting through the weapons, the rest of the party had managed to rescue the other three Jedi Masters from the prisons, who also happened to be the same three that oversaw Visase’s indoctrination into the Jedi Order. They were Jedi Master Yana Lish, Jedi Master Evarr Dreskel, and Jedi Master Rooth Ank.

One of the cells were empty, but was charged with a strong power from the force that Visase found to be easy to tap into and transmit to the minds of the others present. In the vision that ensued, the party saw that that cell contained Rea and Thirra Taro who had, after an episode, been sent to a Sith Lord named Darth Băutor in the Jedi Temple; or rather the Sith Temple.

With the Jedi Masters back together, the party made their way back up to the Law Enforcement level who had since developed more problems when Emperor Sarvak Fel’s personal bodyguards Castor and Pollux showed up to take control of the situation by using their Battle Meditation.

Dalbar claimed to know how to use a force technique that can keep the target from using the force, but Dalbar knew that after he used it, he will need to recover his strength. Otherwise, it is up to everyone else to hold off the empowered Imperial Knights.

The battle outside ensued, while Issilum rushed to get to the bombing points. The battle grew silent however when Taral jumped atop a tank and called for the fighting to cease and instead to unite against the Sith who had taken control. The force was very much with Taral at that moment because even those in the heat of battle stopped to listen.

There was a lot of murmuring, but in the end, the Police stepped aside and sided with the party and rioters. Police Captain Chas Plegu volunteered to use his force to keep the outside clear of interference and perhaps get other police units to follow suit, while the rest of the party and the major players in the assisting forces charged inside to rendezvous with the stealth team. With the police keeping the other forces out, the stealth team’s bombing mission was cancelled.

Inside of the Law Enforcement Headquarters, the party viewed the wreckage caused by the stealth team’s exploding of the armory with only a few guards left to survey the wreckage.

Battle was joined quickly after to finish off the rest of the guards. Only Hartel got hit a few times but otherwise the damage was minimal… until Kipu the Ewok Mechanic began to throw a panic while reprogramming security droids when the doors to the droid room began to get sliced open by lightsabers.

The prison elevator was also discovered, while the other elevators were bringing in new guards. Now the party must figure out how to split the force for the prison, and for fighting off the coming assault.